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53-572: The Westerkerk was built between 1620 and 1631 in Renaissance style according to designs by architect Hendrick de Keyser . He is buried in the church he designed earlier: the Zuiderkerk. The building of the Westerkerk was finished and completed by his son Pieter de Keyser and inaugurated on June 8, 1631. The church has a length of 58 metres (190 ft) and a width of 29 metres (95 ft). The high nave

106-603: A girl named Marie Salme and married her in Visé . The couple settled in Utrecht , where a son was baptized in April 1665. When his talent as an artist was discovered by the art dealer Gerrit van Uylenburgh , he moved to Amsterdam. De Lairesse arrived with his violin, with which he impressed Jan van Pee and probably Anthonie Claesz de Grebber in Uylenburgh's studio. In 1670 a son, Abraham, was born;

159-519: A light green color. In 2017 the organ was cleaned by Flentrop Zaandam. During the church interior restoration it was packed against the dust. Stoplist The tower, called the Westertoren ('western tower'), is the highest church tower in Amsterdam, at 87 meters (286 feet). It is not known who the designer of the spire was. Hendrick de Keyser designed an octagonal spire for the tower which was never built. It

212-427: A new organ. Roelof Barentszn Duyschot died before the organ was completed. His son finished the commission in 1686. Later, in 1727, the console was enlarged with a third manuel by Christiaan Vater, who learned his profession through Arp Schnitger . Many alterations were done on the organ in the course of time. In the 19th century in 1895 a rebuild of the inside of the organ took place by Daniel Gerard Steenkuyl. Many of

265-551: A strong effect on the mind of the spectator. It is based on knowledge, understanding, power of judgement, and natural gifts. He was a disciplined intellectual, inspired by the notion that only correct theory could produce good art. For him theory meant the strict adherence to rules. The ultimate purpose of the visual arts was the improvement of mankind, and therefore art must, above all, be lofty and edifying. He set forth hierarchies of social status, of subject matter, of beauty itself. The artist, he said, must learn grace by mingling with

318-406: A timber merchant, and Huybert his nephew all lived near Jodenbreestraat in a sidestreet. (In 1639 the heirs sold the house to the sephardic community.) De Keyser was friendly with the painter Cornelis Ketel , whom he visited when Ketel made his will; both were Arminian or Remonstrant . De Keyser's relations with Ketel are illustrated by the portraits Ketel painted of the architect. Hendrick

371-597: Is famous for a number of important buildings, gates and towers which belong to the core of Dutch historic sites. Today the Zuiderkerk (1603/6-1611) and accompanying tower (1614), the City Hall (Delft) (1618-1620), the Westerkerk (1620-1631) are among the historic buildings which provide important insights into De Keyser's work. He cooperated with Hendrick Jacobsz. Staets en Cornelis Danckertsz. His Commodity Exchange of 1608-1613

424-526: Is flanked by the two lower aisles. The three-aisled basilica has a rectangular plan with two transepts of equal dimensions. As a result, the plan for this church was given the form of two Greek crosses connected with each other (a patriarchal cross). Several older churches in Amsterdam, such as the Oude Kerk and Nieuwe Kerk , were originally built before the Reformation and were converted to Protestantism during

477-399: Is hung in top of the spire just under the crown. Weekly on Tuesday at noon the city carillonneur gives his recital on the carillon for an hour. He is also responsible for the tunes on the drum and changes these twice a year. At this moment (2024) Boudewijn Zwart is the city carillonneur. A major restoration of the tower started in 2023 and will be completed in 2024. The bells also had to go to

530-543: Is suggested Jacob van Campen was the designer. The crown topping the spire is the Imperial Crown of Austria of Maximilian I . In 2006 the crown on top was painted in its original blue color. Just above the clock-faces is the carillon . The largest 14 of the 51 bells in this carillon were cast by François Hemony in 1658. The modern bells were cast in 1959 by Eijsbouts replacing bells which had been damaged by atmospheric pollution. In 1991 three bells more were added by

583-693: The Dutch Republic . He was the father of Pieter and Thomas de Keyser and Willem , and the uncle of Huybert de Keyser, who became his apprentices and all involved in building, decoration and architecture. Hendrick de Keyser was born in Utrecht , and the son of a cabinetmaker. He grew up in an expropriated monastery, the Catalijne Convent. As a young man he was apprenticed to the engineer Cornelis Bloemaert (the elder). In 1591 he followed Bloemaert to Amsterdam and married Beyken van Wildre from Antwerp. Soon he set to work as an independent artist. In 1595 he

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636-797: The Soestdijk Palace between 1676 and 1683. In 1684 he moved to the Hague and worked there for a year. In 1685 he painted works for the Loo Palace . In 1688–1689, he decorated the civil council chamber of the Hof van Holland at the Binnenhof , presently known as the Lairesse room, with seven paintings with subjects from the history of the Roman Republic , all displaying a remarkable legal iconography. At first, De Lairesse

689-432: The 17th century helped establish a late Mannerist style referred to as "Amsterdam Renaissance". He could be influenced by Paul Vredeman de Vries . The Amsterdam Renaissance style deviates in many respects from sixteenth-century Italian Renaissance architecture. Classical elements such as pilasters , cornices and pediments were used on a large scale, but mainly as decorative elements. De Keyser never slavishly followed

742-570: The 18th century, he was berated during the 19th century. With or without justification, he was considered superficial and effete, and was held in large part responsible for the decline in Dutch painting. Two hundred years after his death in 1711 the Encyclopædia Britannica , 11th Edition (1911) gave no listing at all for De Lairesse, while devoting four pages of solid text to Rembrandt. Works by De Lairesse are now on display at many museums around

795-410: The 19th century when the church wanted to sell them. The grisailles on the rugwerk panels were also painted by Gerard de Lairesse; The four evangelists with their items are shown. The inside of the rugwerk shutters have paintings of old musical instruments. The complete organ was cleaned and re-painted in 1992 in its original state of colour in 1686; most of it in marble imitation. The small organ on

848-645: The Reformation in 1578. The Westerkerk was one of the first purpose-built Protestant churches. The Noorderkerk and Zuiderkerk preceded the Westerkerk. Today the Westerkerk remains the largest church in the Netherlands that was built for Protestants, and is still in use by the PKN (Protestantse Kerk in Nederland) There was no organ when the Westerkerk was consecrated on Pentecost Sunday, June 8, 1631, in accordance with Calvinistic belief at that time instrumental music in

901-496: The Rugwerk (choir organ). The manuals and stop triggers beside this mechanical baroque organ are located in the main case behind this rugwerk. For this kind of baroque organs, it is characteristic that many of the stops, mainly the principals, are doubled in the trebles. This was set up to create more power in leading the congregation in their psalm singing. For complex organ works one or even two stop assistants are necessary for triggering

954-553: The Silent for the Nieuwe Kerk (Delft) (1614-1623). However, De Keyser did not live to see the finished product. His son Pieter, who inherited his tools and designs, completed his work. In 1631 Salomon de Bray included the architect's most important sketches, based on mathematical regularity, in his book ’Architectura Moderna’. De Keyser's career was not limited to Amsterdam, and his international contacts helped him to keep in touch with

1007-605: The Westerkerk is Evan Bogerd. Couplers and shutters: The inside of the organ shutters of the hoofdwerk was painted by Gerard de Lairesse . On the left panel we see the dancing and playing King David in front of the Ark of the Covenant . On the right panel we see the Queen of Sheba presenting gifts to King Solomon . Both stories in the book of Kings in the old testament of the Bible. Gerard de Lairesse

1060-455: The Westerkerk on October 8, 1669. The exact location of the grave is unknown; the number of his grave was lost. It was in a numbered kerkgraf (grave owned by the church). There is a memorial marker on the north wall, made in 1909 after a model on the Nachtwacht . After twenty years, his remains were taken away and destroyed. That was customary with the remains of poor people at that time. Rembrandt

1113-527: The Westerkerk. The Nieuwe Kerk on Dam Square where royal weddings are usually held was being renovated at the time. The Westerkerk is located close to the Anne Frank House where diarist Anne Frank , her family and others were hid in the Achterhuis from Nazi persecution for two years during World War II . The Westertoren is mentioned frequently in her diary – its clock-face on the tower could be seen from

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1166-592: The attic of the Achterhuis, and Anne Frank described the chiming of the carillon as a source of comfort. A memorial statue of Anne Frank is located outside the church at Westermarkt. Hendrick de Keyser Hendrick de Keyser (15 May 1565 – 15 May 1621) was a Dutch sculptor, merchant in Belgium bluestone, and architect who was instrumental in establishing a late Renaissance form of Mannerism changing into Baroque. Most of his works appeared in Amsterdam , some elsewhere in

1219-456: The bovenwerk (Oberwerk, located in the top of the organ case) is still almost complete, with stops by Vater. An exception is the baarpyp, which is made by Steenkuyl in 1896 and the Dulciaan which is made by Flentrop in 1992. The front pipes were made in 1842 by Hermanus Knipscheer. The situation after 1992 was that less than half of the pipes are historic and re-used in the hoofdwerk (great organ) and

1272-525: The brothers Teodor and Krzysztof Lubieniecki . According to Houbraken, Jan Hoogsaat was one of his best pupils. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD), his pupils also included Jacob van der Does (the Younger), Gilliam van der Gouwen , Louis Fabritius Dubourg , Theodor Lubienitzki , Bonaventura van Overbeek , Jan Wandelaar . Celebrated during his lifetime and well into

1325-515: The church was considered profane. It took many years of deliberation until an organ was finally allowed. At first there was still talk of moving the small organ (koororgel) used in the Nieuwe Kerk or the Oude Kerk, but the pipes of the Oude Kerk choir organ were finally moved to the Zuiderkerk. In 1681 the Westerkerk decided to commission the organ builder Roelof Barentszn Duyschot for the construction of

1378-439: The disease gave him is clearly visible on the portrait which Rembrandt painted of him around 1665 and the engraving in the " Teutsche Academie " by Joachim von Sandrart (1683). After losing his sight, De Lairesse was forced to give up painting and focused instead on lecturing twice a week. De Lairesse explicitly states that despite his blindness, he was still able to design a perfect composition. He drew on two chalk boards and

1431-407: The east side of the church was built in 1963 by D.A. Flentrop from Zaandam. It was tuned and slightly altered in 2001. In that year it was named after the minister Ds. H.A Visser who was the man begging for money to buy the organ in 1963. He succeeded. The organ has 12 stops over 2 manuals and pedal. Since 1963 the organ case was in not painted but plain oak wood. After the renovation it was painted in

1484-518: The end of October, there is a free weekly lunchtime concert on Fridays or Saturdays at 1pm. In August there are free concerts almost every day for a week 'Geen dag zonder Bach' ('Not a day without Bach') and the Grachten (Canal) festival. A voluntary donation is asked at the end of the concert upon leaving the church. Music by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) is performed almost weekly at the services of divine worship on Sundays. The organist titulaire in

1537-462: The engraver Abraham Blooteling , with whom he collaborated, was the witness at the baptism; another son was baptized in 1673. In 1671, when Van Uylenburgh tried to sell 13 paintings to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg , Hendrick Fromantiou successfully advised the Elector to send 12 pieces back as forgeries. Fromantiou claimed the paintings were copies of Italian ones, and he could point out

1590-466: The foundry to allow for an improved design in the windows of the tower, as the bells have hung for centuries with hammers that hang on the outside. The second city carillonneur Gideon Bodden is the advisor for this work on the carillon. No changes are made to the bells. See above for the names and years In a lower chamber behind the sounding boards in the tower wall there are three swinging bells also made by François Hemony in 1658. The largest swinging bell

1643-728: The hanging position and the scale and style of individual paintings. He noted ... that a piece ten feet large, with life-size figures, should be viewed at ten feet distance, and that a smaller one five feet high, with life-size, half-length figures, must have five feet distance . His treatises on painting and drawing, Grondlegginge ter teekenkonst (1701) and Het groot schilderboeck (1707), were highly influential on later painters like Jacob de Wit . He also worked with many established artists of his day, as Barend Graat , Johannes Glauber and Frederick de Moucheron , on larger commissions for house decorations. De Lairesse attracted many pupils, including Jan van Mieris , Simon van der Does , and

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1696-417: The mainstream of European architecture. In 1607 the Amsterdam city magistrates sent him to England; it is believed he worked with Inigo Jones ? When De Keyser and Danckerts returned to Amsterdam Nicholas Stone , joined them. For several years Stone worked with De Keyser and even became his son-in-law in 1613. His grandson Henry Stone (painter) studied with Thomas de Keyser. De Keyser died on his birthday and

1749-479: The most popular painter in Amsterdam at that time. De Lairesse was therefore frequently hired to adorn the interiors of government buildings and homes ( canal houses ) of wealthy Amsterdam businessmen with lavish grisailles , trompe-l'œil ceilings and wall paintings. Some of these paintings still exist in the original buildings where they were painted. De Lairesse was born with congenital syphilis , which caused him to go blind around 1690. The saddle nose which

1802-522: The old pipes and the wind chests were re-used. In 1939, the keyboard was equipped with electric tracker action and a swell work was added. It was not what this organ was intended to be in sound and action. The organ was almost doubled in size, but was also too big for its case. So between 1989 and 1992 the organ was reconstructed by Flentrop organ builders in Zaandam to its former mechanical action, again more or less like Christiaan Vater made it in 1727. Today

1855-577: The originals in Holland. De Lairesse was one of 51 individuals involved because of their expertise. Some time later De Lairesse moved to Spinhuissteeg where he became a member of the literary society Nil volentibus arduum , which seems to have gathered in his house from 1676 until 1681. In 1682 he sold copies of sheet music composed by Lully. In May 1684 he rented the nearby house of Caspar Barlaeus . His pupils Philip Tideman and Louis Abry lived there too. De Lairesse produced paintings as decorations for

1908-721: The period following the death of Rembrandt . His treatises on painting and drawing, Grondlegginge Ter Teekenkonst (1701), based on geometry and Groot Schilderboek (1707), were highly influential on 18th-century painters. De Lairesse was born in Liège and was the second son of painter Renier de Lairesse (1597–1667). He studied art under his father and from 1655 under Bertholet Flemalle . He worked in Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle for Maximilian Henry of Bavaria from 1660. In 1664 De Lairesse fled from Liège after an affair with two sisters, his models, led to difficulties. He travelled north with

1961-460: The same foundery. The smaller Hemony bells, which are not currently In use, can be seen in the tower together with the original baton keyboard from the 17th century. The carillon was enlarged to four octaves and is tuned in meantone temperament . It is the only carillon in the city chiming the entire twenty-four hours (At the request of the residents of the Jordaan District). The drum to do this,

2014-485: The social and intellectual élite, must allow his subject matter to teach the highest moral principles, and must strive for ideal beauty. He must follow closely upon nature but overlook its imperfections. In the main reception room there should be tapestries or paintings on the wall with life size figures ... and in the kitchen, images of kitchen equipment and the spoils of the hunt, the picture of some maid, servant, dog or cat . De Lairesse, for whom pictorial illusionism

2067-510: The spirit of Karel van Mander , who felt that a complex historical allegory was the highest of genres. "A good painting has a clue, indicating what holds the composition together." De Lairesse distinguishes two manners of painting, good and bad, that both take their starting point in the imitation of reality. The right choice is to look for beauty and grace and to select the most perfect manifestations of natural phenomena, instead of copying them at random. This method will produce art that exerts

2120-432: The stops. During the restoration of the inside of the church between 2018 and 2020, the inside of the organ was taken to Zaandam at Flentrop Orgelbouw for cleaning and partly revoicing the sound. In the spring of 2020 it was returned to the church. On 18 April the new organist Evan Bogerd performed the commissioning concert on the internet; the church was closed to visitors because of the coronavirus pandemic. From April till

2173-455: The tenets of classical architecture as laid down in the Italian treatises by Serlio and Palladio . His version came to full bloom at the end of the second decade of the 17th century, and set the stage for the later Dutch classical phase of Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post . Apart from pursuing a career as an architect, De Keyser remained active as a sculptor. He designed the tomb of William

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2226-1098: The world, including the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdams Historisch Museum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the National Portrait Gallery and Tate Gallery in London, and the Cleveland Museum of Art . In 2016–2017, an exhibition and conference dedicated to De Lairesse's work was held at Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede . Well-known paintings by de Lairesse include his Allegory of

2279-564: Was appointed city stonemason and sculptor. In 1603 the working on the Zuiderkerk stopped but they resumed construction in 1606, when they agreed with the church board. Meanwhile, he visited London, together with Cornelis Danckerts de Ry to study the Royal Exchange, London . There he contracted Nicholas Stone ? Perhaps they met with Inigo Jones , but he does not appear to have turned seriously to architecture until after his Italian tour of 1614. In 1608 De Keyser sold petit Granit which

2332-544: Was assisted by his audience and his son Johannes who collected their notes. After several years two books on art were published: In Het groot schilderboeck , De Lairesse expressed his disapproval of realism style used by Dutch Golden Age painters like Rembrandt, Adriaen Brouwer , Adriaen van Ostade and Frans Hals because they often portrayed everyday scenes and ordinary people such as soldiers, farmers, maids, and even beggars. In De Lairesse's view, paintings ought to show lofty biblical, mythological and historical scenes, in

2385-672: Was born in Liège in French Belgium in 1640 and he moved to Amsterdam in 1664. In the second half of the 17th century, he was one of the most popular painters in the Netherlands. At this moment, the shutters of the Duyschot organ can be seen on a retrospective of the work of Gerard de Lairesse at the National Museum Twente in Enschede. The outside paintings of these panels or shutters were lost in

2438-555: Was buried as a poor man. Every year on his birthday anniversary, the 15th of July, he is remembered in the Westerkerk with a lunchtime concert with music from the time of Rembrandt's life, and flowers are hung on his memorial marker. Rembrandt's lover Hendrickje Stoffels was also buried here, as was Rembrandt's son Titus van Rijn . Other painters buried in the Westerkerk are Nicolaes Berchem , Gillis d'Hondecoeter , Melchior d'Hondecoeter and Govert Flinck . On March 10, 1966, Princess Beatrix married Prince Claus von Amsberg in

2491-631: Was buried in the nearby Zuiderkerk . Works attributed to Hendrick de Keyser: Gerard de Lairesse Gerard or Gérard (de) Lairesse ( French pronunciation: [ʒeʁaʁ də lɛʁɛs] ; 11 September 1641 – June 1711) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist. His broad range of skills included music, poetry, and theatre. De Lairesse was influenced by the Perugian Cesare Ripa and French classicist painters such as Charles le Brun , Simon Vouet and authors such as Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine . His importance grew in

2544-657: Was highly influenced by Rembrandt , but later he focused on a more French-oriented style similar to Nicolas Poussin . The French even nicknamed him the "Dutch Poussin", although he was also influenced by Pierre Mignard and Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy . In Amsterdam during the second half of the 17th century, the pious austerity of the Protestant Dutch in Rembrandt's age had given way to unbridled opulence, even decadence, and de Lairesse's classical French , or Baroque , style fitted this age perfectly. It made him one of, if not

2597-524: Was made by Jurriaen Spraeckel from Zutphen in 1659 and it still chimes every quarter of the hour to announce the hour and half hour strike. On the quarter of the hour a short tune is performed. The two strike bells were made by Assuerus (Ahasverus) Koster in 1636. The hour strike bell (F) is the largest in Amsterdam (7509 kg) and is hung in the room for the carillon. The text on this Bourdon bell is: "VERBUM DOMINI MANET IN ETERNUM - ASSUERUS KOSTER ME FECIT AMSTELDAMI 1636" The smaller bell (A) for half hour

2650-410: Was of utmost importance, also wrote about the place of pictures on walls. For example, he urged that landscapes (and indeed all paintings) should be hung at a height where their horizons were even with eye level. De Lairesse urged that portraits that be hung high and have a low viewpoint. Gerard de Lairesse was cognizant of the problems posed by viewing paintings from a distance and drew connection between

2703-549: Was pulled down in the 19th century. The East India House in Amsterdam was most likely also designed by him; later extensions were done by his sons. In the year 1616 he renovated the Bank van Lening . The renovation of the Waag took place in 1617 according to his design; in 1619 the Munttoren was prepared for adding a clock. Hendrick de Keyser's projects in Amsterdam during the early decades of

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2756-401: Was replaced after 27 years by Claude Fremy (his pupil, nephew and successor), because it was cracked. The bells (a major triad) are rung to announce the divine service on Sunday and also when the service is on, during praying the 'Our Father'. This bell by Fremy is also connected with the pedals in the baton keyboard of the carillon. Rembrandt van Rijn was buried somewhere under a tombstone in

2809-502: Was used for the weigh house in Hoorn; he also designed the dormers on the rooftop. From 1609 De Keyser lived and worked at Groenburgwal , near Amstel. De Keyser was visited by Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger and his brother Lorenz from Denmark who may have asked him for advice or training. Quite a few of his siblings lived in the area. His brothers Jacob who was a cabinetmaker, and Aert

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